Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
12. Emigration—From Makkah to Madinah
~ 307 ~
introduced Islamic constitutional government to the
city of Madinah.
The Prophet’s departure to Madinah, instead of
appeasing the Quraysh, aroused their anger to new
levels of intensity. They saw that the Muslims were
all gathering in one place, and becoming stronger in
the process. Only two years elapsed before the
Prophet had to decide whether to meet the Quraysh
army outside the city, or allow them to enter
Madinah and cast the newly built nest of Islam into
disarray. The Quraysh had 950 men in their army,
while the Muslims numbered only 313. But the
Prophet’s insight told him that the Quraysh were
moved by solely negative impulses. Hatred of the
Muslims, and jealousy of the Prophet, lay behind
their aggression. The Muslims, on the other hand,
were moved by the most positive and noble
instincts. They had faith in God to spur them on, as
well as the certainty that they were fighting for a
true cause. The Muslims, then, were immeasurably
more strongly motivated than their foes. Besides
this, Arab warfare was an individual affair. Every
warrior sought to make a name for himself by
exhibiting his own bravery. Faith in God had
